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[Raging Spaniard]

As you all know, when Inafune left 2 years ago he posted a blog entry detailing his thoughts, Cheesemeister was awesome and he translated it

His job at Capcom was head of development (or something similar) it basically means that he siphons the bullshit from the executives to the development teams. Executives might say something like "we want DLC! Everywhere! Forever!" and he would fight against it and try to keep the product consumer friendly, while also pitching new projects to the execs once he approved them himself.

My guess is that demands to nickel and dime the consumer were getting out of hand, so he got fed up with that train of thought, being forced to be "the bad guy" to his dev teams and he quit.

He left some quotes that support that argument:

KI: Saying this will make publishers angry with me, but publishers themselves are forcing developers into becoming subcontractors. "For this amount of money, finishing by this deadline," and so on, and even more than quality, "Aim for this number of sales," is what's being pushed.

So what happens after he leaves? Obviously the person who is going to replace him is hand picked by the heads of the studio and seeing how they refused to have Inafune be involved with Mega Man Legends 3, my guess is that they wanted a complete 180 from Inafune.

Suddenly, the siphon wasn't there anymore, and what have we gotten since? Complete and utter bullshit practices from marketing, DLC and product management. Games have been shipped early, needing a revision within the year, legendary IP's have been given to developers without the best track record, DLC practices have switched completely, back when Street Fighter IV came out Ono said DLC characters were against the spirit of the company because they werent consumer friendly practices ... a couple of years later Street Fighter x Tekken has 12 DLC characters ... on the disc!

Inafune was also extremely media savvy. He was the head of the company and could talk to the consumer directly in a way that you could really trust him. He made fucking Megaman and was at the top of the company. He was a gamer making the decisions, not a suit.

Since he left, the void has been filled by Ono who changes his arguments depending on the time of day and will make funny videos so that you forget he said anything and Seth who always says the right thing but given his position in the company he doesn't have enough pull to force any change.

The saddest thing? The games that are actually being made have been stellar. This is not like Sega making shitty fucking Sonic game after Sonic game and ruining their legacy. Dragons Dogma, Monster Hunter, Street Fighter, Resident Evil, Ghost Trick ... they haven't stopped making quality software and somehow they have managed to completely fuck up their customer relations due to executives who want to make that extra 30%.

In my experience, a company's culture is most affected by the people at the top, and since Inafune left, I think we all have noticed a severe change in how they operate.

From Capgod at the beginning of this gen to

 

[Emitan]

Giant "u mad" in OP? LOL. This thread is going places.

 

[Boney]

What always weirded me out, was the fervent hate Inafune used to get around this board before he left.

His western outlook wasn't unfounded at all, and went to create with his team, stellar new IP's like Dead Rising and Lost Planet.

 

[Azure J]

Great post. Honestly, I wasn't following Capcom as closely as I should have throughout the generation so when people used to say Capgod, I never really knew just how good we had it. Then all the recent anti-consumerist things started happening and well we know the rest. It's terrible too because their developers are still putting out some quality stuff. They just have to suffer because of upper management via deadlines (shoutouts to deadlines nixing extra content in the MVC3 iterations) or straight up decisions/stances they back on their part (On Disc content is DLC, lol).

@Boney - The Inafune thing was clearly a case of serious "lost in translation". After his exit, that long interview he conducted stated that his stance wasn't that of what we assumed to be a "westaboo" and blasted him on, but rather, he wanted to take cues from the production of western games and inject some sense of finding/fostering new game design within Capcom. He also seemed to have some understanding or desire to make more universal content. The ones who used to blast him had some crow to eat (myself included) when his full philosophy was laid out.

 

[Spieler Eins]

They've been bad for the whole generation.
Basically because they fired all their talent, which was Clover Studios, Kamiya, Mikami, ...

The saddest thing? The games that are actually being made have been stellar

Not really, no. There's some good stuff occasionally, but their output is pathetic compared to last gen.

 

[gatti-man]

Eh i think capcom doesnt care about the internet 1% and due to its strong software will enjoy profit. Maybe if places like neogaf represented your everyday gamer things would change.

They've been bad for the whole generation.
Basically because they fired all their talent, which was Clover Studios, Kamiya, Mikami, ...

This is exactly my point right here.

 

[blizzardjesus]

My biggest wish would be for them to stop this Monster Hunter nonsense, and focus on what they used to be good at.

Platinum games is what Capcom should be.

 

[McBradders]

I feel bad for Ono

And I miss the shit out of Inafune. WHY U FORSAKE US BRO?! I thought we were friends?

 

[Kai Dracon]

What always weirded me out, was the fervent hate Inafune used to get around this board before he left.

His western outlook wasn't unfounded at all, and went to create with his team, stellar new IP's like Dead Rising and Lost Planet.

Capcom seems to be a generator for spurned fans who see red.

I.e. when Inafune was in, all Capcom's woes were his fault, because he was the public figure people could blame. Sack him!

Now that he's out, he's Saint Inafune, Ono is the troll, sack him, etc etc.

 

[Grymm]

Japanese developer making bad business decisions, shit games, no idea how to handle the public, and falling away into obscurity.

Not sure what's so surprising here.

 

[ViewtifulJC]

Inafune was the dude who spearheaded the "lets give all our franchises to western people, we can't do anything, Japan sucks"

 

[~Devil Trigger~]

Inafune is a large reason Capcom went the directions they did this gen. Good and Bad.

 

[Grymm]

Inafune was the dude who spearheaded the "lets give all our franchises to western people, we can't do anything, Japan sucks"

Smart man. Now I see why the OP says they've been floundering since he left.

 

[mr. puppy]

street fighter x tekken is a huge pile of terrible game design and will hopefully lead to a load of firings, but i doubt it will happen

 

[IC_Champion]

Yeah, since this gen, Capcom's hubris was on the rise, and the PR work has multiplied that.

 

[Htown]

Yeah, that's what it looks like from the timing alone. From a consumer perspective Capcom was alright, but a couple months after Inafune left, it all started going downhill. I had no special attachment to the guy, but when I noticed Capcom starting to suck a little while back, I remembered that someone important had left recently, spent ten minutes on Wikipedia, and came to the same conclusion.

 

[GatorBait]

Capcom has been chasing the $$$ hard and it has resulted in some bad decisions, rushed/sloppy/unfinished games, and a whole lotta nickel and diming.

That being said, their IPs still generate a lot of sales, and that fact has been able to overcome any quality shortcomings.

 

[ShockingAlberto]

Inafune left because Capcom operates on executive decisions over all else, even what the developers themselves say.

They are where they are now, for better or and worse, because they are still continuing that.

Inafune was not a golden god that did everything right, but he left for the same reasons that Capcom is messing up now.

 

[Ignis Fatuus]

Inafune was the dude who spearheaded the "lets give all our franchises to western people, we can't do anything, Japan sucks"

Yeah he's the man single most responsible for the westaboo nonsense. Hopefully DmC tanks horribly and that ugly vestige of his reign will be over with.

 

[SykoTech]

Wasn't Inafune all for outsourcing their franchises to (often mediocre) Western developers? EDIT: Why yes, I see he was.
Not to mention Capcom's DLC/new disc updates were happening before he left.

I doubt Capcom's reputation would be much better if he stayed. Maybe a handful of Mega Man fans wouldn't be so grouchy, but not much else.

 

[BrokenEchelon]

Yeah, since this gen, Capcom's hubris was on the rise, and the PR work has multiplied that.

They have surely released the floodgates of avarice this generation, and I hope they suffer for it.

As for Infamue, he has been complaining about Japanese development for years, but has hardly done anything to show us how it should work. I'm getting rather tired of listening to him regurgitate the same complaints every time he opens his mouth. At first it was proper criticism, but now it has just become incessant whining.

 

[~Devil Trigger~]

street fighter x tekken is a huge pile of terrible game design and will hopefully lead to a load of firings, but i doubt it will happen

i think you need a time out.

 

[Chamber]

If Inafune is responsible for stuff like DmC, I can't say I'm upset he's gone.

 

[Carbonox]

Uh, Inafune leaving contributed to their shitness? No. They were shit even while he was there. The love for the guy confounds me.

Losing Mikami, Kamiya and the rest of the Clover guys pretty much wiped them out. Sure, there's been some good games this generation but this generation is a dent on the generations prior. When you see a company think Slant Six is a good idea for developing a fairly big title, you know they have problems within.

Capcom seems to be creatively bankrupt, as well as lacking common sense in their decision making. They also have some of the worst PR in the industry as well.

So no, Inafune leaving made no difference in the decisions before and the decisions after, apart from contributing to decisions that severely alienated the fanbase (see DmC). The company is just on one big fucked up slope and has been/will forever continue to be, since this generation first started.

Just my two cents on how they've been this generation. Massive shame.

 

[The Return of]

Not sure if you know OP but Ono isn't the one who makes decisions on whether or not characters should be on DLC or not.

Also, I don't give a damn about inafune man, he's like half of the reason why we have DmC and why Capcom has been putting this focus on western games like crazy.

I mean I'm glad he bought back Bionic Commando and Megaman, but he also brought a ton of shit as well so I won't act like they didn't drop shit back when he was at the company either.

At least you could do is offer the good and the bad while inafune was there

 

[Htown]

Also, fun fact: Nintendo of America went to hell this gen after Cammie Dunaway left. I'm just sayin', Nintendo fans. Look at the dates and look at when the games stopped coming and NoA started really sucking.

 

[Fersis]

I believe that Inafune and Ono were the ones pushing for SFIV.
So i tip my hat to Inafune san.
He was closer to a dev than an executive which didnt work too well for him.

 

[Raging Spaniard]

Well, according to GAF, Japanese games suck and western devs are superior soo.. whats the problem

The idea of making a new IP in house (Lost Planet, Dead Rising) and then give it to an outsourcer is not a bad idea. Dead Rising 2 turned out pretty decent.

The problem is the execution, giving DMC to a company that hasnt made a game run in 60 fps or even stable 30 fps is just a bad idea.

Not sure if you know OP but Ono isn't the one who makes decisions on whether or not characters should be on DLC or not.

I know and I understand. Thats not my point. Before his boss was against the idea, and then his new boss was all for it.

 

[Emitan]

street fighter x tekken is a huge pile of terrible game design and will hopefully lead to a load of firings, but i doubt it will happen

That is an absolutely deplorable opinion to hold.

 

[Femmeworth]

Infaune was part of the problem too. Isn't he partly responsible for Clover Studio closing, which cost Capcom a lot of talent?

 

[Codeblue]

Smart man. Now I see why the OP says they've been floundering since he left.

You must not be very familiar with Capcom.

 

[sixteen-bit]

Correlation doesn't necessarily mean causation.

 

[Erethian]

Inafune left because Capcom operates on executive decisions over all else, even what the developers themselves say.

They are where they are now, for better or and worse, because they are still continuing that.

Inafune was not a golden god that did everything right, but he left for the same reasons that Capcom is messing up now.

Yeah. Inafune touched on this in the interview posted.

KI: No. Not a single member of the board of directors understands games. I didn't ask to be a board member, but if you don't have someone who understands games in the position of making those final decisions, there winds up being a business-side that doesn't understand games and development-side that wants to make games. I feel that's the biggest problem Capcom will be facing.

Not like everyone who runs a game company has to be a former developer, but you at least want some experience in making games on there.

 

[Raging Spaniard]

Correlation doesn't necessarily mean causation.

Which is why I gave you context.

 

[The Return of]

I know and I understand. Thats not my point. Before his boss was against the idea, and then his new boss was all for it.

Ah okay I gotcha, I misunderstood what you were trying to say then.

 

[DR2K]

Infaune was part of the problem too. Isn't he partly responsible for Clover Studio closing, which cost Capcom a lot of talent?

Clover studio was just making bombs though.

 

[Kyoufu]

Capcom has always been the same Capcom they've been since the dawn of time. The only difference now is they have DLC to abuse.

I honestly can't think of any differences between Inafune era Capcom and 2012 era Capcom.

 

[~Devil Trigger~]

Clover studio was just making bombs though.

Amazing bombs

 

[yurinka]

Raging Spaniard, you're over appreciating Inafune. To name some examples :

1) remember he didn't created Megaman, he was just a junior in the first games.
2) he didn't want SFIV to be greenlighted. He was the reason of why we had to wait this long to get a Capcom fighting game. Ono had a hard time to get his greenlight.
3) People only remember the good games. But how about Bionic Commando, Dark Void, Mega Man Universe and the other epic fails? He was also in charge of them. But at the end of the day, it proves again that these games are made by huge teams and it's not only the opinion of 1 executive what makes the game to be good or bad.

And well, ALL the companies ask their developers to reach deadlines, budgets and sales. Capcom isn't the only company who asks for it. Others like the son of the CEO was showing great numbers (with PSP versions of Monster Hunter), and Inafune didn't.

Canned projects due to low quality and games with huge budget and really low sales are a problem for a company, and these is what several of the last Inafune games were.

Regarding the '12 characters as DLC', in SFxT Capcom decided to release them as DLC and not in a second Super SFxT game because the users complained about buying a game twice with only some fixes and additions and because UMvsC3 sales were way lower than expected (didn't reached SSFIV numbers). DLC is budgeted since the start, so they were going to charge for it even if it was included in this disc, in a new one or as a downloadable DLC. But in this way you don't need extra HD or another disc.

Infaune was part of the problem too. Isn't he partly responsible for Clover Studio closing, which cost Capcom a lot of talent?

Yes, and Capcom created Clover with the idea of creating new IPs with creative freedom and without relying in sales. Maybe he was jealous, because it's something for himself:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=411847

He even says things like:
"Wanting to try my own strength is absolutely driven by the desire to know if a game can sell because it's made by Keiji Inafune. If it's by Inafune and not "Inafune of Capcom", then it's all on me. This was something that was absolutely impossible from within Capcom. "

 

[toddhunter]

If anything I think Capcom are getting better...

People have short or selective memories, or just were not around for Capcom's "glory" days.

 

[The Return of]

Bionic Commando isn't an epic fail

 

[SHAZOOM]

Amazing bombs

Lets just admit it. Platinum Games is Capgod 2.0. I mean, they have fuckin' Kamiya.

 

[SHAZOOM]

Bionic Commando isn't an epic fail

The only thing keeping the game back is no NEW GAME+. Because dropkicking robots and catapulting soldiers into the horizon never gets old for me.

 

[Raging Spaniard]

Raging Spaniard, you're over appreciating Inafune. To name an example : he didn't want SFIV to be greenlighted. He was the reason of why we had to wait this long to get a Capcom fighting game. Ono had a hard time to get his greenlight.

And when talking about Inafune, people only remember the good games. But how about Bionic Commando, Dark Void, Mega Man Universe and the other epic fails? He was also in charge of them.

And well, all the companies ask their developers to reach deadlines, budgets and sales. It isn't just Capcom asking for it.

Regarding the '12 characters as DLC', in SFxT Capcom decided to release them as DLC and not in a second game because the users complained about buying a game twice with only some fixes and additions. DLC is budgeted since the start, so they were going to charge for it even if it was included in this disc, in a new one or as a downloadable DLC. But in this way you don't need extra HD or another disc.

At the end of the day though, he did greenlit it ... and maybe passing on it earlier is what made it the game it ended up being? maybe Ono's pitched sucked, maybe the contractors Ono picked were shit ... etc

And yes, there were failures, but the argument isnt so much about the games, is about the general train of thought that despite good software, Capcom keeps fucking up. According to you, everything is dandy?

Also, in terms of DLC thats my whole point. When the person at the top as the best interests of the player in mind, you can make sure that when that game ships all of those characters are available. Its the Executive Producers that make those calls and I believe that with Inafun ein charge, you would have gotten all those chasracters from the start

 

[Carbonox]

If anything I think Capcom are getting better...

People have short or selective memories, or just were not around for Capcom's "glory" days.

Resident Evil
Resident Evil 2
Resident Evil 4
Devil May Cry
Devil May Cry 3
Dino Crisis
Onimusha
Onimusha 2
God Hand
Viewtiful Joe

Plus other titles many people prefer over this gen offerings.

Let me know when Capcom reaches this amount of brilliant quality this generation. Genre-defining titles that will be remembered for many many many years.

They have hardly anything to offer nowadays.

Resident Evil? Gone down the COD route, effectively alienating many fans. Devil May Cry? Fucking rebooted. Dino Crisis? Onimusha? God Hand? Dead.

Street Fighter's resurrection was great, sure, until they started to spam DLC and oversaturate the genre.

What about their other titles this generation? Dragon's Dogma is an ambitious plan, fair enough, but a risky one at that. Lost Planet? They killed that one themselves. Dead Rising? Decent little franchise though I await Capcom killing that too. Dark Void? Bionic Commando? Killed off. Monster Hunter seems to be their only decent money-spinner now that fans still enjoy.

If you prefer the games this generation then sure, that's entirely your view but to say people have selective memory and that Capcom are getting better because of our selective/short memory is a terrible thing to say.

 

[Deleted member 13876]

street fighter x tekken is a huge pile of terrible game design and will hopefully lead to a load of firings, but i doubt it will happen

You say the darndest things.

 

[RedSwirl]

And yet, they're the only Japanese publisher that's been able to keep their head above the water on HD consoles this gen. I'm starting to think that it's mostly because the company is now being run more like a western publisher than any other Japanese publisher.

 

[MidnightScott]

Capcom is doing a lot of wrong (AAI2 localization) and a lot of right at the same time. (RE6 actually looks good...)

 

[Femmeworth]

If anything I think Capcom are getting better...

People have short or selective memories, or just were not around for Capcom's "glory" days.

And yet, they're the only Japanese publisher that's been able to keep their head above the water on HD consoles this gen. I'm starting to think that it's mostly because the company is now being run more like a western publisher than any other Japanese publisher.

Define "head above the water."

 

[Spieler Eins]

If anything I think Capcom are getting better...

People have short or selective memories, or just were not around for Capcom's "glory" days.

What Capcom gave us last gen off the top of my head: Resident Evil Remake, Resident Evil 4, Devil May Cry, Onimusha, Okami, Viewtiful Joe...
Easily considerable as the best of the gen.

The last few years however, they developed very little that could compare to all that. Not surprising, if you fire all of your best developers. Sure, they made tons of money from Resident Evil 5 and whatnot, but from a gamers perspective, that shit was average at best.